WASHINGTON — Leader of the Republican minority in the United States Senate, Mitch McConnell, said Thursday that he would vote against the appointment of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who was selected by the country’s President Joe Biden to run for the colonel to fill the court.
“Having studied the nominee’s records and seen her performance this week, I cannot and will not support Justice Jackson for a lifetime Supreme Court nomination,” McConnell said in a speech on the floor.
Last year, the Republican leader had already spoken out against Jackson, who, if confirmed by the House of Lords, would become the first African-American woman to reach the Supreme Court and serve as a judge on a District of Columbia Court of Appeals.
McConnell cited several reasons for his current decision, including past rulings by the judge, his doubts about her legal philosophy, and the fact that Jackson expressed his views on a possible expansion of the Supreme Court, one of the proposed initiative has not disclosed Democrats.
The Conservative also warned that the magistrate could engage in what he called “judicial activism”: “It’s a recipe for the courts to err in formulating policy and avoid healthy democratic engagement.”
McConnell added that this was “a lack of understanding of the separation of powers” and that he would therefore vote against Jackson.
For the past three days, the judge has been under scrutiny by lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee, where her candidacy must be approved before going to the plenary vote in the House of Lords.
On Tuesday, Jackson had to defend himself against allegations by Republican Senator Josh Hawley, who claimed the lawyer had slipped into a “pattern that allows child pornography defendants to walk away unscathed in their heinous crimes.”
Hawley’s allegations, presented without evidence, have been criticized by conservative media outlets such as The National Review, and even members of his own party have distanced themselves.
Democrats have the 51 votes needed to approve Jackson’s nomination and want the Senate-wide vote to occur before April 8.
In any case, Jackson’s arrival would not change the ideological composition of the Supreme Court, which, with six conservative-leaning justices and three progressive justices, is more right-leaning than at any time since the 1930s.